1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to lamination technology, and particularly to extending the applicability of said technology by increasing the ability to bend of printed matter.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
For over a century merchants and service organizations have utilized catalogs for providing effective visual displays of their products and services. The catalogs typically include a plurality of essentially planar leaves, usually with each leaf having a display page on each of the two sides of the leaf. Some catalogs are mailed or otherwise provided to potential customers for reference at the immediate customers residence or business. Usually these mailed catalogs are bound like a book, so that upon opening of the catalog the binding acquires an accurate shape and thus essentially is responsible for allowing displacement of the edges of the catalog pages relative to one another.
Other catalogs, generally more expensive to produce and perhaps more detailed and/or more merchandise-current, physically remain at the merchant/service provider""s place of business for ready reference by browsing or searching customers. In view of the frequency of use of such on-site catalogs, the catalogs must be durable, e.g., able to withstand constant manipulation and environmental conditions/situations (moisture, spills, etc.). But at the same time the on-site catalogs must be attractive and user-friendly (easy to open, turn the leaves, and so forth).
For achieving such durability, some catalogs have their leaves formed by interposing a display sheet or the like between laminate films. Typically the laminate films have an adhesive which is heat activated as the display sheet is interposed therebetween, thereby securing and sealing the display sheet between the laminate films. A considerable amount of the thickness of the laminate films is attributable to their adhesive component. The leaves are then bound between retaining members, such as metal strips for example. Examples of such catalogs are illustrated in European Patent EP 076175, which discloses each leaf having two laminate films extending into a binding region of the catalog.
While the lamination of catalog leaves provides a reasonable measure of durability essentially without sacrificing transparency of the printed matter of the display sheet, in some instances such laminated catalogs can be rather rigid and awkward to manipulate. Unlike book-like bindings, the retaining members themselves between which the laminated leaves are bound do not facilitate displacement of the leaves. Moreover, for this and other reasons it is generally not feasible to turn a leaf through three hundred sixty degrees range of motion. Consequentially, catalog browsers are constrained in viewing and turning the catalog pages. Such encumbrances militate against relaxed and reflective perusal of the catalog, and thus defeat efforts by the merchant to provide a convenient and accommodating salesroom atmosphere.
Laminated pages can be employed in other products besides catalogs. But the stiffness and rigidity traditionally characterized by lamination severely limits the scope and nature of such products. What is needed, therefore, and an object of the present invention, is a technique for imparting both flexibility and lamination to printed matter.
The present invention provides techniques for imparting both flexibility and lamination to leaves or sheets comprising laminate films, including but not limited to leaves or sheets which at least partially enclose or encase printed matter to or between laminate film(s). The first laminate film and the second laminate film may or may not have part of all of a segment of printed matter, e.g., a display content sheet, positioned or sandwiched therebetween. All embodiments have a flex or flexible zone which provides flexibility to the leaf or sheet, the thickness of the flex zone being thinner than the thickness of portions of the leaf or sheet having two laminate films.
For those embodiments having printed matter, some portions of the printed matter are interposed between two laminate films in one or more display zones of a leaf or sheet. The leaf or sheet also has one or more flex zones wherein the printed matter is contacted by at least one, and preferably only one, laminate film. The flex zone(s) have a thickness which is less than the thickness of the display zone(s). The flex zone of each sheet or leaf provides flexibility for the leaf at strategic locations, the remainder of the sheet or leaf having durability and stiffness as afforded by the two films of lamination and the adhesive utilized in conjunction with one or both of the two lamination films.
Catalogs according to the invention comprise a plurality of leaves and a binder which secures the leaves in fixed relation to one another. The leaves of the catalog have three zones or areas of interest: a display zone; a binding zone; and a flex zone. The display zone is a three-layer zone which includes a display content sheet interposed between two laminate films. The three-layered display zone has a composite thickness T1.
The binding zone is the region along an edge of each leaf wherein the plurality of leaves interface with the binder. Various embodiments of the present invention are distinguishable by the techniques and/or apparatus which characterize the binder (e.g., adhesives, fasteners, etc.).
The flex zone in the catalogue implementation is situated intermediate the display zone and the binding zone. The flex zone comprises at least, and preferably only one, laminate film. The flex zone has a thickness T2 which is less than the thickness T1 of the display zone. In one embodiment, the smaller thickness T2 of the flex zone relative to the thickness T1 of display zone is achieved by having the flex zone formed from only one laminate film. The flex zone of each leaf provides enhanced flexibility for the leaf, and permits presentations formed from the leaves of the present invention to bend through a range of angles including three hundred sixty degrees, as well as to acquire various use configurations.